


Children of the Moon

by gutsandglitter



Category: The West Wing
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-21
Updated: 2014-11-21
Packaged: 2018-02-26 11:16:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2650058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gutsandglitter/pseuds/gutsandglitter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Now he realized where he’d seen it before. Danny was one of the few unattached people working in the White House who had never tried to cover his mark. He let it show proudly, wearing his heart on his sleeve almost as literally as possible." - CJ/Danny Marked Soulmates AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	Children of the Moon

When Toby first saw it he couldn’t help but be disappointed. 

It was sometime after 11, long after the rest of the staff had gone home. He and CJ had stayed behind to prep for the next day’s briefing; after about three hours they had finally decided to call it quits and crack open a few beers. Now they were both lazing on CJ’s office sofa trying to muster up the energy to get up and go home.

“Can I see it?” 

The words were out of Toby’s mouth before he even realized he’d made the decision to ask. 

CJ turned her head towards him and blinked twice. “See what?”

He gestured to his left hand. “You know, your mark.”

In all their years of friendship he had never seen her soulmark, the tattoo-like mark that developed after ones’ eighteenth birthday matching them to their soulmate. Most of their colleagues kept their marks covered at work for the sake of privacy, especially the ambitious unattached women. Appearing too desperate to find one’s soulmate could prove fatal to their career or at the very least leave them open to unkind speculation. 

Still, even fierce unattached women like Nancy McNally let them show from time to time at casual social events. CJ on the other hand lived with her left hand painted in expensive makeup.  
Over the course of their friendship no matter where they had been – sleazy bars in midtown, Camp David, the Bartlet farm in Manchester – she had always kept it completely covered.

CJ considered his request for several moments before giving a small shrug. She leaned forward and grabbed her near-empty beer bottle off of her desk and tipped it over the back of her left hand. She let the last few drops of amber liquid run across the flat plane of her hand and down across her knuckles. Then with the index and middle fingers of her right hand she began to rub the spilled beer in small circles, removing the layers of makeup one by one.

Toby watched in fascination as the mark began to materialize like a drowning man coming to the surface for a few lifesaving gulps of sweet air. The beer didn’t serve as the world’s best makeup remover, but after a minute of gentle rubbing the mark was definitely visible beneath a thin beige haze. 

Toby would be lying if he said his heart didn’t sink just a tiny bit as he saw the small delicate curl, not unlike a backwards question mark, appear on CJ’s skin. It looked nothing like the sharp black diamond shape that graced the small patch of skin between his own thumb and forefinger. It was ridiculous really for him to have even entertained the notion that their marks could match, especially since he and Andi were already soulmates. Polyamorous soulmates were extremely rare, and the odds of CJ being their third were slim to the point of not existing. Regardless, the hope had still been there. 

CJ fondly traced her fingers over the small curl. “It’s funny, I keep it covered so much of the time that I usually forget it’s there.”

Toby nodded thoughtfully and cocked his head, peering intently at the mark. “You know, I’d swear you haven’t shown it to me before but it looks really familiar. I think I’ve seen it before.”

CJ’s right hand stuttered and dropped, covering up the mark. She looked away from him, suddenly intensely interested in studying her wastebasket. 

“I’m sure I’ve seen it somewhere before,” Toby mused, oblivious to CJ’s sudden coldness. “This is gonna bug me. When did you show it to me?”

CJ pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “You have seen it before. Just not on me.”

Toby furrowed his brow. “What do you-oh.”

They sat in silence for several moments.

Finally Toby cleared his throat. “Any point in my asking-“

“Danny Concannon.”

Toby exhaled sharply. Of course. “Danny Concannon.”

Now he realized where he’d seen it before. Danny was one of the few unattached people working in the White House who had never tried to cover his mark. He let it show proudly, wearing his heart on his sleeve almost as literally as possible. 

CJ hid her face behind her knees. Toby cleared his throat awkwardly.

“So uh, has he seen it?”

CJ looked up at him sharply. “Of course he hasn’t seen it, nor do I ever think he will.”

Toby’s eyebrows shot up past where his hairline had been in his twenties. “Why not?”

“Because it’s humiliating!” she cried. “The White House Press Secretary and a White House reporter being matched? If anyone ever found out I’d lose all my credibility. Everyone already thinks I’m too friendly with the press, if word got out about this, this thing!” she jabbed a finger into the center of the soft curly cue, “I’d be ruined. We’d be ruined.”

Toby shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t think it would be all that bad-“

“That’s because you’re a man,” CJ said, voice thick with the tears she was trying to hold back. “They see me as a woman doing a man’s job. Since day one they’ve been trying to undermine me, prove me unfit to work here.” She snorted softly. “Maybe I am unfit to work here.”

“None of that,” Toby said softly. He rested a hand on her shoulder. “You’re more qualified for your job than any other asshole working here, regardless of what you decide to do with-“ he gestured vaguely at her left hand, “that thing.”

CJ smiled weakly. “Thanks Toby.”

*****

 

The first time Bartlet saw it he decided to give CJ a lecture. 

They were on Air Force One flying back from a 72 hour trip to Japan. CJ had spent only six of those hours sleeping, so keeping her eyes open while the President monologued about the influence that the Tokugawa shogunate had on current Japanese economic policies required near-Herculean effort. She didn’t even notice at first when the lecture shifted direction. 

“-and while I’m on the subject of powerful alliances, daimyo or otherwise, might I just remind you that a soulmark is not something to be ashamed of?”

CJ started. “I-what?”

He gestured to her left hand and frowned. CJ swore under her breath. Her presence on the trip had been a last-minute decision, and in her haste to get to Air Force One on time she had forgotten her concealer. She had spent the last few days carefully trying to preserve what makeup was there but it appeared her efforts were all for naught – there it was, clear as anything.

She tried to cover it with her other hand but was stilled by a look from Bartlet. He looked out the window for several moments before speaking again.

“When my mark showed up I was sure it was a mistake,” he said quietly. He traced a finger across the two thin lines that ran across the back of his hand and curled around his wrist. “I was studying to be a priest, and those who are destined for the church never develop soulmarks. I was ashamed. I saw it as some sort of moral failing, as if I had done something to displease the Lord and make him want to refuse to have me in his service.”

He continued to gaze out the window with a sentimental smile playing about his lips.

“What changed your mind?” CJ asked meekly.

Jed looked at her and grinned. “I met Abbey. Saw her across the library one day and instantly knew, didn’t even have to see her mark. It was the most freeing moment of my life, as if the Lord himself had elbowed me in the ribs and said ‘wake up stupid, I’ve got other plans for you.’”

CJ smiled softly and looked down at the carpet as she tried to avoid spilling the tears that had begun to prick at the corners of her eyes. 

“CJ, what I’m trying to say is that the marks are a blessing and not a curse. They may feel like it sometimes, but to find the one whom your soul loves…” he trailed off, eyes shining. “It’s the greatest gift He ever bestowed upon us if you ask me,” he finished. 

CJ nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

Jed smiled and waved a hand at her. “Now off with you. Try and get some sleep before we land.”

“Thank you Mister President.”

*****

 

The first time Danny saw it he wasn’t fazed in the slightest.

They were in her office bantering about something or other. CJ was laughing, a deep throaty laugh that made her abdominal muscles ache in that familiar satisfying way. 

Danny grinned at her and leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers behind his head.

“Let’s go out tonight.”

CJ’s laughter died abruptly. “What?”

“Go out? Like to dinner? Although I suppose it didn’t have to be for dinner, we could do whatever you want. How late to go-kart tracks stay open?”

“Danny-“

“You work too hard. I haven’t seen you smile this much in ages, which is quite frankly a crime against humanity because you have a killer smile. Let’s go out, let that smile see daylight.” He glanced out the window and saw it was pitch-black outside. Or moonlight. Whatever.”

She folded her arms across her chest, trying to hide the fact that her hands had begun to tremble. “Danny I can’t,” she said, voice above a whisper. 

“You damn well know you can,” Danny said irritatedly. “You won’t. There’s a difference. Now if you won’t because you don’t want to that’s one thing and I’m okay with that. But if you won’t because you want to and are just making up stupid excuses-“

“They aren’t stupid excuses!” she cried. “If I went out with you I could tank the administration’s credibility! It could make Bartlet the laughingstock of the world! It could, it could start a war!”

Danny’s eyes softened. “Come on CJ. What’s the real reason?” he asked gently.

“You want to know the real reason?” she asked, nearly yelling now. “I’ll give you the real reason!” 

She stood up from her desk and uncrossed her arms. She dug the nails of her right hand into the soft flesh of her left and began desperately scratching at it. The carefully painted layers of beige concealer crumbled and wedged themselves under her nails as she scratched, building up until finally the mark was revealed.

She thrust her hand at him. “That’s the real reason!”

Danny looked at her hand for a moment before moving his gaze back to her face. “I don’t understand,” he said slowly. 

“You idiot, look at it. It’s the same as yours. We’re marked for each other.”

Danny shook his head in confusion. “No I know that, what I don’t get is-“

“What do you mean you know? I’ve never shown you it before.”

Danny looked at her in bewilderment. “So? I still knew. The mark is only half of the equation. Less than that. Like a third. And eighth. Whatever. I knew from the moment I laid eyes on you.”

CJ’s jaw dropped. “What do you-you knew? You knew this whole time?”

Danny nodded slowly, brows furrowed. “Of course.”

CJ sputtered. “But why didn’t you say anything?”

“Well I did ask you out like twenty seven times.”

“Yeah but I didn’t think it was anything like that.”

“Anything like what?”

She wordlessly gestured to their hands.

Danny leaned forward in his chair and chuckled softly. “I wasn’t asking you to get married or anything. I couldn’t care less about the stupid marks, I just want to spend time with you because I like you and I think you like me, although you wouldn’t guess it from the look on your face right now.”

CJ rubbed her forehead absentmindedly while she tried to process this. “It’s not about whether or not we like each other though,” she said slowly. “I mean, we’re marked. That’s it. I’ve built my entire career upon the fact I’m an unattached woman in a male-dominated field. I’ve worked so hard to get to where I am and then you come waltzing in and it’s over. We get married and settle down, eventually I decide to quit my job to be a full-time mom, and pretty much everything I ever did becomes irrelevant.”

Danny looked stunned. “That’s your real reason for not wanting to go go-karting with me?”

CJ blinked at him. “I-well yeah. I like my life Danny, I don’t want it to change.”

Danny stood and took a tentative step towards her. “I never said anything about marriage or kids CJ. Don’t get me wrong, I want that eventually, but not at the cost of your independence.”

He took another small step towards her and her breath caught in her throat. 

“CJ, the fact that you’re fiercely dedicated to your job is one of the things I love most about you. It’s what makes you who you are. I would never, ever want you to give up that part of yourself just because that’s what you’re supposed to do. You can do whatever you want. You’ve never let anything stop you before, so why should this be any different?”

CJ didn’t say anything, so Danny took a chance and stepped forward to close the distance between them. They were now standing toe-to-to, mere inches from one another. This time when he spoke CJ could feel his warm breath on her skin and it sent shivers down her spine.

“I want to be with you CJ, the real you. Not the version of you that gives up on her quest for world domination just because she thinks that’s what’s expected of her. I don’t think that version of you exists.”

He reached down and took hold of her left hand, which CJ now realized hurt like hell from her frantic scratching.

Slowly, Danny raised the hand to his lips and laid a soft kiss on the angry raw skin. CJ closed her eyes and let out the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. She opened her eyes and looked down at the hand that was being held by her soulmate.

*****

 

When CJ first saw the mark, first really saw it for what it was, she was relieved. 

The thing she had spent her entire life fearing was little more than an errant patch of melanin. There was another human being in the world that had the same mark as her, but that wasn’t what mattered. What mattered was the fact that that human, the impossible Danny Concannon, did not want to define her by her mark. 

When Danny kissed her, she did not miraculously feel “whole” or “complete”. She had always been adamant about the fact that a soulmate did not dictate one’s wholeness. In this moment she understood the truth in that statement, but also the folly. Yes, she was a whole person without Danny, but in the same way that she was a person if she went without food or water. Hunger pains do not diminish one’s existence, but they make it dull and unenjoyable. As he kissed her the previously monochromatic world suddenly became drenched in vibrant screaming color, and she wouldn’t have gone back to living in black and white if you had paid her.

He was right; the mark was the least important factor. Far more important were the tiny lightning bolts that shot up her arm the moment he took her hand. Far more important was the fact that the moment his lips touched her skin she could no longer think about anything other than how much she wanted to feel his kisses on every square inch of her body. 

Far more important was the fact that when she was with him, she felt more like herself than ever before.


End file.
